Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, a longtime leading Jewish figure in ecumenical affairs, has been elected as chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. It is the coordinating body of major Jewish religious groups in their relationships with the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodoxy and other international religious bodies.

More than half the world's Lutherans now have compacts for sharing pulpits and Holy Communion with Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, according to a review of those ecumenical ties. It was made by the Rev. Lewis L. Wilkins of Indianapolis, formerly on the staff of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Geneva, Switzerland, and presented at a Lutheran-Reformed conference here. However, Lutheran leaders noted that obstacles are still to be overcome before the newly merged 5.

The unprecedented sermon by a rabbi at this year's Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service was greeted with "enormous" favor and future services may have clergy of other non-Christian religions speak if Easter again coincides with another major religious holiday, the event's director said. "Mail was incredibly positive" over the appearance of Rabbi Leonard Beerman at the dawn rites on April 3, Norma Foster said.

Members of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue team said they expect to complete work on the topic of "One Mediator, the Saints and Mary" by September, but it's going to be difficult. Many Catholics invoke Mary and the saints to intercede with God while Lutherans generally regard that practice as contrary to the view of Christ as the only intercessor. The Lutheran co-chair, the Rev. H.

Jewish religious leaders expressed relief Thursday at the apparent pullback by Pope John Paul II from doctrinal statements about Jews that had created concern about a growing rift in relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism.

September 12, 1987 | DON A. SCHANCHE and DAVID TREADWELL, Times Staff Writers

Pope John Paul II made moving gestures of friendship to American Jews and unity to Protestants during an arduous three-city round of appearances Friday, and bluntly exhorted all Americans to restore traditional moral values to their lives and to reawaken a sense of moral accountability in society. In Miami's Tamiami Park, a thunderous rainstorm forced the pontiff to cut short the first public Mass of his American visit, much to the disappointment of the 230,000 who had gathered there.

Because a high-level meeting at the Vatican looks promising for Jewish-Roman Catholic understanding, Los Angeles Jewish community leaders said Monday that they will participate after all in an interfaith celebration in Los Angeles next month with Pope John Paul II.

In an important letter on the Virgin Mary, Pope John Paul II on Wednesday appealed to Christian churches in the East and West, and particularly in the Soviet Union, to seek unity in common devotion to the mother of Jesus Christ. It was only John Paul's sixth encyclical--as these especially authoritative papal letters are called--in the more than eight years since he became Pope.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has proposed a compromise to pastors who object to elements of the new full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church. The "Called to Common Mission" agreement between Lutherans and Episcopalians, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, will allow the churches to share clergy and joint mission projects but stops short of an outright merger. Several Lutheran factions, especially in the upper Midwest, oppose the agreement's rules on ordinations.